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Warp-field Distortion Sickness
Warp-field distortion sickness (colloquially known as warp sickness, space sick) is a malignant disease that many faster-than-light spacefaring crew experience when in warp for extended periods of time. Multiple extended exposures results in worse and more persistent symptoms, for which no cure is known. Symptoms and Stages Stage 1 * Shivering (Captain's Tremor) * Short (few hours) headaches * Acute Weakness / fatigue Stage 2 * Long-term headaches * Temporary memory loss after warp * Muscle and bone loss * Numbed senses+vision Stage 3 * Accelerated aging, cellular and macroscopically * Memory loss may become permanent * Small breakouts of necrosis Stage 4 * Psychosis and/or dementia * Death Causes and Prevention While the exact mechanisms of warp sickness isn't fully understood, the act of entering prolonged lengths of warp rapidly ages cells as if they were anchored to their original position in spacetime. Additionally, exiting warp space results in a rapid synchronization of two different concentrations of spacetime, physically tugging and pulling cells apart. The most common way to prevent warp sickness is through the utilization of stasis pods. These pods freeze the user and effectively stop all living processes, reducing or even eliminating the effects on the user while in stasis. Larger crews will often have shifts in order to minimize the effects of warp sickness on the crew. In the case of single or small-crew vessels, this task is left up to an automated system for controlling and navigating the ship and waking the crew. Slower warp speeds (and slower acceleration/deceleration from faster-than-light speeds) are another way to reduce the effects of warp sickness. The slower speeds are more synchronized with the surrounding area's spacetime, resulting in less of an effect. Extending periods of time between successive jumps will also allow the body to recovery to a point. Crews that are not on a time/speed budget will often cycle their jumps, with 3 days warp/1 day of rest period at typical FTL speeds. Warp sickness seems to only have noticeable effects on living tissues, as noted by century old ships showing no molecular degradation or effects aside from normal mechanical and radioactive wear. Cure There is no known cure for this disease, especially as it advances into later stages. Symptoms may be treated through their normal mediums, however. Warp invariably has an effect on a crew's body, however, safe warp practices can limit the exposure of warp to smaller periods of time, leaving the body to rest and recover. Even with the best practices, however, voyagers on longer excursions will often experience Stage 1 symptoms for days or weeks after coming out of an extended warp. With continued warp use, the body becomes more and more prone to these effects. Frequent space travelers may show consistent Stage 1 symptoms. After years of non-stasis space travel, Stage 2 symptoms may start to show or even become the norm. Stage 3 symptoms come with many decades of space travel, and is evident in the oldest ship captains. The final stages of warp sickness is uncommon, showing more prevalence with crew practicing unsafe FTL travel. Social Effects While warp sickness makes extended voyages unpleasant, warp travel still remains the fastest, cheapest, and most accessible way to travel short-medium distances. Passenger vessels will often advertise their state-of-the-art stasis pods, allowing passengers to travel with relative ease and comfort. Old ship captains often have an image of being crazy, fixated, and demented due to the long term onset of warp sickness, leaving many outer-ring bars to feature captains with outlandish stories and tales. Military captains will often be assigned to warp ships for the early part of their life until stage 2 symptoms develop. After this, captains may be dismissed or reassigned to local system duties where warp travel is generally both rare and brief.